BREEDING OF PASTOR ROSEUS IN VERONA. jy 
and perhaps even more, if we are to credit the statements of some 
of the inhabitants of Villafranca. Nor ought we to be surprised 
that some attributed this to a miracle, and recognized in it the 
direct hand of Providence. 
As is known, Pastor roseus inhabits the warm countries of 
Africa* and Asia, and is pretty well distributed over all the regions 
of the Caucasus. Essentially a wandering bird, it migrates more 
or less regularly to the South of Europe. It has been many times 
observed in Greece, and more rarely in Spain, France, Belgium, 
Germany, Switzerland and England. In Italy this very beautiful 
bird shows itself rarely enough, and is of irregular passage, though 
it may now be said that some individuals at more or less lengthened 
intervals have been taken in nearly every part of our country. 
As regards the Province of Verona, it is particularly noticeable 
that Pastor roseus figures among the rarer species, many years 
sometimes passing without an example being even seen; or else 
showing itself in little parties of from six to ten or twelve, in May 
or June, and staying but a very few days. It was therefore quite 
exceptional that, in June, 1870, a hundred or more wandered for 
about a week in the country along the Veronese shore of the Benaco 
[Lago di Garda]. 
This being premised, the scientific interest of the notes now 
given will be more easily understood. They reter to the appearance, 
and more especially to the nidification and propagation of Pastor 
roseus, a subject with which modern authors are not much 
acquainted, and the statements made with regard to the repro- 
duction of this bird in Italy may hitherto be regarded more as 
suppositious than anything else. 
Thus the illustrious Savi (Orn. Tose. i. p. 180; Orn. Ital. i. p. 854) 
was only able to announce, on the testimony of others, the nidifi- 
cation of many Rose-coloured Starlings in the Mugello in 1740, 
concluding his account with the remark that the propagation of 
this species is “ little known.” So, too, wrote Perini (Orn. Veron. 
p- 118), when he said we might infer that a certain pair had bred 
in the Province of Verona in 1840, from the fact of his having in 
his possession a female in which perfect eggs were found. Lastly, 
Salvadori (‘ Fauna d'Italia,’ Uccelli, p. 167) considers the occasional 
breeding of some pairs is possible, from the fact of his having seen 
several very young examples taken in Piedmont in September. 
* [This is a mistake.—Eb.] 
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